"So, tell me again, Wakaba. What job did we accept at the guild?" Stretching my arms with a yawn, I placed my hands behind my back while glancing at Wakaba, who heaved a puff of smoke from his pipe before grabbing his head and sighing. "Really, Macao? You're the one who suggested this job? Man, one of these days, you're going to accept an S-Class job and get the two of us killed." Rolling my eyes at his exaggeration as if I were even allowed to access the second story of the Guildhall
"Sorry, but my wife and I were up all night; we've been trying for a child, and she refuses to let me go. Haa, at this rate, my manhood is going to fall off before I make it to 30." Rubbing my head, I fix my pants, loosening them so my manhood is comfortable, though all I got was a laugh from Wakaba. "Oh, relax, you're 26, still young; best to enjoy it now while your wife is still young and beautiful." Although I couldn't deny his words, I couldn't help but give him a weird look, though he seemed unconcerned as he kept smoking his pipe.
"Anyway, we took a request regarding a weird disturbance in a forest near Oshibana Station. Apparently, there is a severe lack of animals; there weren't too many details, but we're supposed to scout the forest and see if we can discover the cause. Nowhere does it say we would have to fight." Hearing Wakaba, I nodded slightly while sighing in relief; if I didn't have to fight, that was good. "Alright, then, let's take the train; it'll only take us a day to get there," I said while changing directions slightly, heading towards the train station in Magnolia, while Wakaba followed beside me.
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It was the morning of the next day, and we'd left Oshibana station about two hours ago and were just now arriving at the forest south of it; however, the moment we stepped in, we subconsciously shivered, causing the two of us to gaze at each other while our gazes hardened.
"Alright, let's take some precautions." Said Wakaba while he blew a puff of smoke out of his pipe, which transformed into multiple fists that circulated around him. As for me, my hands lit on fire with purple flames while I followed Wakaba, taking the rear while the two of us headed deeper into the forest, taking our time to investigate any clues we came across. However, one thing we noticed pretty quickly was the same the quest mentioned… The lack of beasts.
"I don't visit forests regularly, but they shouldn't be this quiet, right?" Warily observing our surroundings, I glanced at Wakaba for confirmation, who nodded in agreement with a hardened expression.
"No. No, they shouldn't." Said Wakaba lightly as he narrowed his eyes, taking the lead as we headed deeper into the forest.
The fact that we didn't come across any beast was unsettling, though what was more disturbing was that not even ten minutes later, a potent, almost overwhelming smell of iron assaulted our noses, causing us to subconsciously hold our breath.
"Sure we should continue?" Asked Wakaba while glancing at me; while it was tempting, this forest wasn't known to have powerful beasts, so I shook my head. "Let's press deeper; if we retreat now, we'll be a laughing stock in the Guild for the next week." "Yeah… You're not wrong."
With a begrudging nod, Wakaba continued into the forest while I closed the distance between us; after a few minutes, we came across reddish mud, one that we didn't dare question despite knowing what it was. 'So much blood, it's soaked into the ground… Ugh, I regret deciding to press forward.' Inwardly groaning, I nervously gulped while practically breathing down Wakaba's neck.
As we pressed through the reddish mud, we finally began to find clues: broken trees, destroyed boulders, cracked ground, and numerous scattered decaying beast corpses. As Ironic as it was, the intense smell of iron overpowered the scent of the bodies, so it didn't smell horrid, well, at least not any more terrible than before.
Against our better judgment, we pushed deeper, stepping atop the trail of corpses while following the trail of carnage and destruction, until eventually, a few hours later, we came across a somewhat fresh red bear with a hole in its chest.
"Guard me, Macao." Said Wakaba solemnly as he kneeled before the red bear, inspecting it while I stood guard with my purple flames, scanning the surroundings for whatever may have caused this carnage, as the creature may still be around given how fresh everything is.
"Found anything, Wakaba?" "Um, yeah, I think." Glancing at Wakaba, I saw him holding an eaten heart with one of his many smoke hands, causing me to groan in disgust.
"So? What do you think?" Shifting my focus to Wakaba, who tossed the half-eaten heart onto the ground, he used his many smoke hands to point at various clues.
"Well, what do I think? I think a child did this. The tiny hands, feet, and teeth marks all suggest a child or at least someone who used transformation magic to mimic a child." Wakaba's initial statement was crazy, but I did trust his judgment, and it wouldn't be uncommon for a mage to use transformation magic to conceal or trick their tracks.
"Awesome, now let's get out of here. I do not like this place." "Tch, you and me both." Subconsciously shivering, I took the lead this time as we retraced our steps; however, just as we took a few steps, we heard a thud behind us, causing us to stop before slowly turning around.
As I turned around, my eyes locked on a dark skin pre-teen with long white hair standing atop the bear's corpse, yet when I shifted my focus to his red, vertical slit eyes, I felt a shiver run through my spine. Gulping, Wakaba, and I quickly entered a fighting stance while suspiciously eyeing the child before us, though I didn't think this person was a child, given that we couldn't sense his magic power.
"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, trying to avoid a battle if possible, yet my only response was a large smile, displaying his two short fangs and bright white teeth. The next thing I knew, he suddenly lowered himself, causing me to widen my eyes as I made the first move; thrusting my hand forward, I fired numerous purple flame pellets at the child, who lunged forward, destroying the bear beneath his feet.
Although my attack hit squarely on his body, I only left bruises and burn marks on his body. This caused me to widen my eyes, though just before the child reached us, Wakaba created a smoke shield, blocking the child, though it dispersed his smoke in the process.
"Oi, Macao, don't hold back just because he's a child!" Nodding at Wakaba's reminder, I used my full strength and fired several more purple rain, though the child was agile and could dodge most of them.
"Wakaba, I'll ensnare him! You knock him out!" Thrusting my palm forward, I channeled my magic power and used purple net, forming a long flaming chain, and threw it at the child. Although he was fast, just before he dodged the attack, the flaming chain suddenly grew, transforming into a large net that covered him.
With a yank, I ensnared the child, wrapping him tightly in my purple net, though I may have underestimated the child as the net was slowly snapping underneath the child's immense strength; it wouldn't take long before he broke free.
"Wakaba!" "I know!" Combining his numerous smoke hands into one very large one, Wakaba punched the child, sending him crashing across the ground and through a few trees before he eventually stopped in the distance.
"Do you think we got him?" I asked hesitantly while glancing at Wakaba, who merely puffed a smoke, only for childlike laughter to be faintly heard, followed by an eruption of magic power, one that, while powerful, was far less intimidating than I was expecting.
'Wait… Is he ACTUALLY a child?' Widening my eyes, I glanced in the distance where the child was before glancing at Wakaba, who was just as surprised as me.
Still, although our opponent was a child, as experienced mages, neither of us would take this fight any less seriously, not after that eruption of magic power. He was strong, no doubt about that; if either of us were alone, it would be a challenging fight, but with the two of us, I was confident we could defeat this child without seriously harming him.
"Haa, fighting a child; I would've never imagined." Sighing, I rubbed my head and looked at the child, whose skin shimmered with a faint golden light while he wiped blood off his face.
"Let's get this over with." Muttered Wakaba softly as he released a puff of smoke, creating numerous fists while I nodded and engulfed my hands with purple flames. Not even a moment later, the child lunged at us with a disturbing smile as if he were enjoying this.
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Gasping for breath, I plopped onto the ground and held my side, wincing in pain; glancing at Wakaba, whose condition was only slightly better than mine, I reached into my satchel and shuffled towards the unconscious child, who we had to beat unconscious, and as shameful as it was to admit, it wasn't easy, partly because the child refused to stand down no matter what we did to him, it was like we were fighting someone who couldn't feel pain.
'This child… He's frightening.' Kneeling before the child, I grabbed his broken arms, causing me to wince, before carefully restraining him with magic-suppressing cuffs.
"L-Let's keep this a secret, Macao." "A-Agreed." I nodded while dropping to my butt before lying on my back, staring at the sky in exhaustion.